- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION
- OPTIONS
- SEE ALSO

# NAME

openssl-rand, rand - generate pseudo-random bytes

# SYNOPSIS

openssl rand [-out file] [-rand file(s)] [-base64] [-hex] num

# DESCRIPTION

The rand command outputs num pseudo-random bytes after seeding the random number generator once. As in other openssl command line tools, PRNG seeding uses the file $HOME/.rnd or .rnd in addition to the files given in the -rand option. A new $HOME/.rnd or .rnd file will be written back if enough seeding was obtained from these sources.

# OPTIONS

-out file

  Write to file instead of standard output.

-rand file(s)

  Use specified file or files or EGD socket (see RAND_egd) for seeding the random number generator. Multiple files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character. The separator is ; for MS-Windows, , for OpenVMS, and : for all others.

-base64

  Perform base64 encoding on the output.

-hex

  Show the output as a hex string.

# SEE ALSO

RAND_bytes